Kowalski is deathly ill
by Howbrighthesky
Summary: what it says on the tin.
1. Ill

"MOVE!MOVE!MOVE!, UP AND AT'EM BOYS!" bellowed skipper, gesturing for the team to belly-slide to the ladder and out of HQ. "its a drill!"

private stirred rubbing his eyes sleepily and hopping out of bed,rico climbing down from his bunk and making an unintelligible grunting noise, they both saluted. skipper begun tagging them in. "GO!GO!G-"

... Kowalski? he glanced away from them and his eyes wandered settling on the miscellaneous bundle of blankets named Kowalski. Private was half way up the ladder by this time and Rico just about to begin his ascent, a pregnant pause followed as private looked down sharing a look with rico. he slid down the ladder and they followed skipper's gaze towards the sleeping Kowalski.

well this was strange, thought skipper, Kowalski never overslept. if anything he was usually the first one up- after skipper of course. granted this was a drill day so breakfast would have to wait, and everyone had bad days -but as he approached (private and rico right behind)he begun to notice something.

slight irregularities in Kowalski's breathing. a hitch in-between every breath and a sharp continuous rasping noise. "what's wrong with him skippa?" asked private as the three crowded round the second in command's bunk. skipper put a thoughtful flipper on his beak. "Walski?"questioned rico pushing skipper aside.

he then proceeded to perch on the side of the bed and place a flipper on either side of Kowalski's head . slowly he leant down,listening to Kowalski's breath from first his beak and then his chest. The others waited expectantly for an answer.

rico's eyes lit with worry, widening until they where impossibly large, he staggered backwards off the bunk and started muttering. "walski!-n't so gu'd!..."

options. thought skipper,but kowalski was the smart now he was the one in trouble... he started to panic,what whould Kowalski do? " take a chill pill rico -private!"

"yes sir!" shouted private ,soluting.

" head down to the pharmacy across the street and get some mediscine. by the looks of things we're dealing with fever- he said placing his flipper on a clammy brow - delirium- he said pealing open one lazy eyelid noting the pupil was blown wide... rico was hopping up and down squeezing his throat and pointing to Kowalski" wa'er!" he rasped-" and fluid on the lung" he finished-"find something for the fever as that is our main concern" he ordered.

there wasn't much else they could filch medicine wise that would do any good but they could ceirtainly help with walski's breathing. " rico, fetch some blankets and a wet flannel, asap!". he kneeled on the edge of the bed and very gently shook Kowalski. nothing happened. so he shook him a little bit harder ,reciving nothing but a deep rasping watched in horror as his second begun to choke, every muscle tensing and eyes flying open.

rico dropped what he was carrying and helped skipper pull Kowalski into a seated position where he then proceeded to choke on his own phlegm. rico slapped his back a few times and thankfully the coughing resided.

Kowalski seemed confused for a moment and would have flopped back against the headboard if skipper and rico hadn't held him there. the scilence was so heavy it was a weight on skippers shoulders.

Kowalski looked round dazedly his head tipping forwards only to jerk back up again turning as he tried to understand the logic of his situation. he was cold, and his limbs where heavy, the room wouldn't stop spinning and he fought the urge to fall into the darkness." Kowalski!" Kowalski's head snapped up." Kowalski." skipper said more gently." how are you feeling?" it seemed like a stupid question, his head was spinning sending a sharp ice-cream pain straight through his skull, his throat was tight cutting off his air supply, and he barely had control of his faculties.

\- it was bad enough having to keep his head up like that. everything in him screemed to stay keep his eyes open for just a bit longer- " I seem to... I feel like..." he dragged his flipper to his head and grunted, trying to ignore the pain, the other reaching out towards skipper for balance-rico and skipper exchanged worried glances. " 'm ok" he mumbled.

Kowalski's body went completely limp.


	2. mediscine and bad omens

Kowalski awoke to find himself cocooned in a swathe of fluffy blankets, noting that the one on top was privates hideous brightly coloured Lunacorn comfort blanket. he should have complained, pushed them off of him onto the cold stone floor… but he was freezing. a cold sweat breaking out across his brow with the effort of lifting his head, a heavy lead weight.

"AARGH!" he groaned. a sharp stabbing pain accosting his left frontal lobe.

"he's awake!" shouted skipper, and the whole crew leaped into action eventually surrounding his bed. another groan escaped his beak that this time had nothing to do with his head "Walski!" cooed Rico running up to him and wrapping his flippers around Kowalski's torso.

unfortunately as Rico rested his head against the analysts chest a whole new bout of coughing begun causing Rico to leap away and hide behind skipper upset about setting him off.

"private, medicine!" skipper held out a flipper and a pack of pills was smacked into the appendage. two white pills where tipped into a cup. a glass of water was passed into skippers other flipper and skipper waddled up to him. Kowalski frowned as he approached his eyes blurring slightly as he tried to sit up a little, Kowalski must have been feeling ill to except medicine thought private sadly. two sharp hacking coughs erupted from his beak but he managed to control it, holding out shaking flippers to receive the pills.

as smoothly as he could noticing his seconds unsteady flippers skipper gently guided the pills into Kowalski's flippers holding onto the cup as it tilted upwards. the same was repeated for the water and Kowalski quickly swallowed before a bout of coughing could dislodge the medicine. Rico waddled over shyly with a thankfully non regurgitated flannel and lay it across the analysts brow with a wet squelch. "thanks guys" Kowalski whispered softly, his throat still dry despite just drinking some water. Finding himself becoming very sleepy he let his eyelids shut for just a moment. His headache abating somewhat although he speculated the placebo effect must have been part of the equation. Rico lowered Kowalski's tired head onto the soft pillows.

and soon a soft snoring punctuated by the occasional cough and a constant unsettling wheezing could be heard around HQ. "Rico, front and centre!" Rco complied with the order quickly lining up next to private but not after a quick glance at where Kowalski lay on his bunk. " I want surveillance, we have a man down, we are weakened as a unit, private i know you'd love to sit by Kowalski's bedside and repeatedly wet his flannel and all that gooey stuff- he winced at private's deflated look-"which you are excellent at," that earned a smile- he looked back to Rico- " but you aren't a terrifying explosive swallowing attack dog!" he said with a flourish continuing his pacing in front of them both " if anyone catches wind of our weakness we need to be prepared, so Rico I'm posting you on guard duty for tonight before resuming training as usual in the morning"

private piped up " erm Skippah?-won't Rico be tired after staying up all night watching Kowalski? too tired to train too?" private asked innocently, not noticing the annoyed long-suffering look skipper was sporting and the worried glances Rico kept shooting their sick comrade. "no, my men have nerves of steel and can go days without sleep.-private looked slightly worried- "right private?" "erm yeah-i mean yes Skippah" was the anxious reply. " we need someone to make sure Kowalski doesn't get any worse, and that we don't get any unwanted visits from our enemies whilst were sleeping, the cowards, they're just waiting for the cover of darkness to attack!"

"erm- skipper" interjected private for the second time-" doesn't that seem a little erm, well-paranoid?" "look private, who knows what tech Kowalski is creating. they could easily capture him in this state, just imagine the weapons they would have at their disposal with their very own Kowalski!"

Private knew what sort of inventions Kowalski created on a daily bases now. if his skills were utilised by the enemy he couldn't imagine what horrors Kowalski could be forced to create…

but private highly doubted that would happen. skipper was far too paranoid for his own good.

and watching Rico gently stroking back Kowalski's head-feathers he really did believe that even if skippers fears actually came true and the enemy were plotting to exploit their weakness and kidnap Kowalski, Rico would protect his comrade admirably. besides the fact that he would do the same for any member of the small unit. And private knew Rico had a soft spot for the nerdy penguin of the team. Rico and Kowalski were thick as thieves.

"private you are dismissed, Rico-" skipper hesitated watching the weapons expert intently petting the analysts feathers, he wondered if Kowalski would mind being petted in such a way had he been awake, although the action seemed to be comforting him in sleep as his worrying forehead was slowly relaxing. skipper stood uncomfortably watching the scene for a few moments until Rico looked up shaking his head from side to side as if snapping out of a daze "wazzup?" he asked.

skipper was going to ask Rico to make some of his signature sushi, but thought better of it deciding to ask private to make some fishtail soup. it would probably be easier for the teams analyst to consume and was warm so would help with his temperature and hopefully stop him from shivering, with the added bonus of none of them having tasted it in a long time. "er-I was just going to say, maybe you should re wet that flannel, it looks a little dry..." he said. "training is suspended for the day" skipper explained whilst pouring himself his third fish coffee of the day.

their whole operation had been put on standby out of worry for the teams analyst. skipper knew it was safer for the team to stay down in HQ for today as they would not only be distracted by Kowalski's absence whilst said penguin would be left alone and vulnerable. besides it was no fun training without watching Kowalski's inventions blowing up in his own face half way through.

Skipper stirred his coffee trying not to let his paranoia run wild as he went over the possibility of whether the teams analyst had perhaps been poisoned, or injected with some sort of super-virus when he wasn't looking... instead he instructed private to make the much needed soup and tasked Rico with a virtual exercise on the x box and as night fell stood outside watching the sky turn crimson and the sun a blood red eye sink into the ground.


End file.
